Options Few as U.S. Leaders Told Saturday Mail Can’t End - Bloomberg
Without being able to cut back to five delivery days from six, the Postal Service will take its board’s advice and ask its employee unions to renegotiate multiyear contracts, consider asking regulators for an emergency rate increase and cut administrative costs, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in an interview. He said he broached the notion of renegotiating union contracts with labor leaders yesterday.
“They know we’re in a fix in terms of our operating costs,” Donahoe said. “I’m hoping they’ll at least entertain the idea.”
The service’s two largest unions questioned the need to reopen their contracts, which don’t allow career employees to be fired without cause, saying they made concessions when those agreements were negotiated. The service, which lost $15.9 billion last year, estimated it would save $2 billion annually by ending Saturday mail deliveries.
Without being able to cut back to five delivery days from six, the Postal Service will take its board’s advice and ask its employee unions to renegotiate multiyear contracts, consider asking regulators for an emergency rate increase and cut administrative costs, Postmaster General Patrick Donahoe said in an interview. He said he broached the notion of renegotiating union contracts with labor leaders yesterday.
“They know we’re in a fix in terms of our operating costs,” Donahoe said. “I’m hoping they’ll at least entertain the idea.”
The service’s two largest unions questioned the need to reopen their contracts, which don’t allow career employees to be fired without cause, saying they made concessions when those agreements were negotiated. The service, which lost $15.9 billion last year, estimated it would save $2 billion annually by ending Saturday mail deliveries.
